Mom of Two Toddlers Who Died in Hot Car Allegedly Said She Locked Them Inside to Teach Them a 'Lesson'

A Texas mom of two toddlers who died in a hot car on a 96-degree day in May now faces charges after she allegedly told police she left her children in the vehicle to teach one a “lesson,” PEOPLE confirms.

Park County deputies arrested Cynthia Randolph, 24, last week in connection with the May 26 deaths of Juliet, 2, and 1-year-old Cavanaugh Ramirez, who were left in the car for at least three hours, police said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE.

The children were initially found unresponsive and were pronounced dead about 30 minutes later.

She is charged with two counts of causing bodily injury to a child with intent and is being held at Park County Jail on $200,000 bail. She has not entered a plea or obtained an attorney, according to the Parker County District Attorney’s office.

Police alleged Randolph had initially claimed the children “took off” and locked themselves inside a small vehicle, forcing her to break a window in an attempt to save them, according to the statement.

She allegedly gave different accounts of what happened before revealing that she found the children playing in the car and left them inside after her daughter refused to leave the vehicle.

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“She shut the car door to teach her daughter a ‘lesson,’ thinking, ‘she could get herself and her brother out of the car when ready,’ ” police alleged in the statement. “Randolph then told investigators she went into her home, smoked marijuana and went to sleep for two to three hours.”

Randolph also allegedly admitted to breaking the car window to “make it look like an accident.”